It's funny when you design a house floorplan from scratch. I did it using AutoCAD and 8-1/2 x 11 sheets of paper. The first question is how many square feet of living space are we going to have / can we afford. Then it becomes how many bedrooms do we need / want. So you figure that out, then lets make sure the place is functional. Only then did I started organizing the basment and defining where the HT room would go and it's size. However when you are working on a computer screen and small paper you have no real concept of size. And for every sq. foot you increase, the cost around $100 to $150. That can add up very quicly. Although using AutoCAD it's really easy to do. LOL
So the process is simply this; I spend an hour comming up with a floorplan, print it, take it to my wife, she says, "No Paul, that's no good", I then go back to the computer, make changes and the process repeats itself about a million times.
Then after they frame the house, we do it all over again. This closet is too small, the door way is too big, etc.
It's fun, in a stressful kind of way.
paul
